Home Giving Opportunities Profiles in Giving News & Photos Who We Are Volunteer Opportunities Make a Gift

December 2004
Developments A student affairs e-newlsetter on fundraising

Contents

What Does the Assistant Director
of Development--Student Affairs Do?
New Office Location
New Student Affairs Fundraising Website
Update on Database Management Project
A Year of Progress: Laying the Groundwork for Student Affairs Fundraising
Update on Current Projects
What Are the Needs of Your
Area or Organization?
A New Direction for Paul

What Does the Assistant Director of Development–Student Affairs Do?

I was hired into this new position at the start of the South Asian Society spring ’04 semester with the purpose of coordinating and supporting fundraising efforts from young alumni for various Student Affairs programs and organizations, training and educating student affairs staff and students in the fundraising operations and opportunities, and helping develop among student leaders an appreciation for the role of philanthropy at Rice.

I have been devoting much time and energy to meeting with student organization leadership, student affairs staff members, and friends of the university including alumni and corporations as well as setting up processes for this endeavor to succeed.

Another function of this position is leading the Pacesetter Club program. This is a stewardship recognition and reward program for young alumni (last ten graduating classes) that encourages consecutive giving by coordinating monthly stewardship, including letter writing, gift mailing, and updating the online donor honor roll (http://giving.rice.edu/pacesetters).

The programmatic budget of this position was set up to do the following mailings on an annual basis:

Three student affairs targeted solicitations. These initiatives can range from a MOB mailing to an Impact Rice Retreat solicitation, something that we actually did in May '04.
One division-wide solicitation. This will take place in February '05––more details later in the newsletter)

New Office Location

The Development Office has moved from Allen Center to the Greenbriar Building near campus at the corner of Greenbriar and University. My office also was part of that move. My physical address is different but my other contact information stays the same:

Paul J. Sutera
Assistant Director of Development––Student Affairs
Rice University Office of Development
5620 Greenbriar Street, MS-81
Houston, Texas 77005
(P) 713-348-3561 (F) 713-348-5166 (E) sutera@rice.edu

New Student Affairs Fundraising Website

A website has been developed (http://giving.rice.edu/studentaffairs) as a go-to place for student groups and student affairs departments to get fundraising tips and for alumni, friends, and corporations to obtain information about the funding priorities for student affairs. In many proposals and solicitations, we direct donors to this site as a way to make online gifts.

Update on Database Management Project

The Development Office tracks alumni of the university through a database called Millennium. This is the university’s only database that keeps comprehensive, up–to–date mailing and e–mail addresses for alumni and others who make gifts to Rice. This database also has the ability to include the organizations that alumni were involved in, which will translate into better mailing/e–mail lists for newsletters, invitations, and/or solicitations and will cut down on duplication among the many offices.

I have been working with Holly Williams in Student Activities to develop a system to account for all of the clubs/organizations; Maria Melendez in the Student Center to code former employees in the Student Center, Coffeehouse, and Willy's Pub; and Cheryl Matherly in Career Services to track former Career Advisors.

Will this service help you today or in the future with your mission? If so, let's talk further to provide you the most up-to-date information on alumni from your specific area(s) in Student Affairs!

A Year of Progress: Laying the Groundwork for Student Affairs Fundraising

We have made great strides in a relatively short time. Here is a Impact Rice Retreat summary of the activities and impacts of my position over the past year.

Student Clubs/Organizations

Met with 30+ student organizations and clubs, ranging from students wanting to raise funds for a climbing trip to Kilumjour to assisting the Rice Crew team with mailing their first newsletter to their alumni/friends network.

Student Affairs Departments

Enhanced communications between Development and Student Affairs by serving as a conduit for fundraising inquiries––the calls and e–mails about student affairs fundraising come to me and I seek the content experts for the answers. Received many positive comments from student affairs folks stating they now feel as if they have an ally in the Development area.
Led a small group to Texas A&M in April ’04 to learn how they raise funds for student affairs programs. Their successful program involves students playing a large role in asking alumni/corporations for support. Their program will serve as a benchmark on which we can measure our own program’s success.

Presentations and Workshops

Since the concept of philanthropy is new to Student Affairs and to students, I have spent much time making presentations and doing workshops. Examples include:

Development Resources Division Meeting, February '04
First–ever Annual Diversity Council Transitional Retreat for leaders of multicultural organizations, April '04
Student Activities Treasurer Training, April '04
First–ever Student Affairs Strategic Planning Retreat with the assistant deans and vice presidents, May '04
Student Association Retreat, September '04
Brown Bag Seminar about Student Affairs funding priorities to Development officers, September '04
Fundraising workshop for student organizations (38 clubs represented), September '04

Due to the success of these workshops, more are planned, as well as ones specifically targeted to residential college leadership.

Promoting Student Affairs Fundraising Priorities to Prospective Donors

This is the area that will yield the most return for the Division of Student Affairs. The more internal and external groups know about our needs, the more they will be willing to assist! The following is a glimpse of Student Affairs “on the road”:

Hanszen musical, Three Postcards. In October, the Development Office showcased our students to alumni donors in the Brown Society ($5,000+/year) by attending a welcome reception at the Hanszen master’s house, dinner in the Wiess Commons, and a musical play at Hanszen College.
"Rising Star" annual giving society event featuring students and staff. The Charter Society ($2,500+/year) event in September ’04 highlighted rising star students (Derrick Matthews, Will Rice & Edith Arnold, Wiess) and faculty (Brian Gibson, Academic Advising/Martel College & Lynn Huffer, French Studies).
Pilot program for training study abroad students to talk with prospective donors. With the assistance of Vicki West, Study Abroad, and Carolyn Warszawski, Asst. VP of Development, we created a pilot program where trained study abroad peer advisors accompany Development officers on visits in Houston and other Texas cities to prospective donors. This program helps students enhance their communications skills, helps open the door for Development officers to talk to hard–to–reach prospects, and will result in more exposure and funding for study abroad programs.

Success Stories

I have helped student clubs/organizations, Student Affairs departments, and other internal partners to create successful grant proposals, solicitations (both snail mail and e–mail), and sponsorship packages. Here are some of the results of these efforts:

Advocating DiVersity And the Need for Cultural Exchange (ADVANCE)––proposals for company sponsorship; received $2,500 from BP in September ’04.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists student chapter––developed recruitment letters to get companies more involved with their organization.
Black Student Association––working with alumni and community to enhance their annual Soul Night performances.
Campus Crusade/Impact––solicitation to local churches.
Community Involvement Center––proposal for company sponsorship; received $1,000 on two separate occasions from Starbucks in August and November ’04.
Engineers Without Borders––soliciting funding assistance from family and community members for their three sites; has raised more than $26,000 since March ’04.
GATHER Resource Center––received $2,500 from an alumnus in August ’04.
Habitat for Humanity––received $1,200 for its Alternative Spring Break (ASB) trip in December ’04.
Impact Rice Retreat––sent a printed solicitation this past May to 579 Impact Retreat alumni; raised $600. See PDF of solicitation.
Lacrosse team––developing a giving matrix in a pre-season solicitation letter; raised $7,800 through a letter campaign to current team families.
Martel and Lovett Colleges––solicited alumni for the annual Beer Bike competition and received $300 and $461 respectively.
Mock Trial––solicited Houston lawyers to help with their speaker series and regional/national competition funding. In the first week raised $700.
National Society of Black Engineers––raising monies and awareness to develop a NSBE Jr. chapter at Jack Yates High School.
Philharmonics––received $5,600 from an alumnus in November ’04.
Rice Crew––received a $1,500 donation from an anonymous donor to attend a competition.
Rice Dance Marathon––sponsorship packages for their Stayin' Awake for Kids' Sake event.
RSVP––received $1,000 from JP Morgan Chase Foundation in November ’04.
Secular Students––getting their name and mission out to the community equated to $200 in donations.
Society of Automobile Engineers––proposal to participate in One Lap of America (http://www.onelapofamerica.com/).
South Asian Society––sponsorship packages for their Dhamaka event; received a $2,000 pledge from Shell Oil in December ’04.
Willy’s Pub––received a $1,000 donation from parents of a current student, November ’04.
Young Democrats––letter–writing campaign raised over $500 to enhance club activities.

We also are currently applying to the Women's Sports Foundation with a SH@RP proposal developed in collaboration with the Staff Advisory Committee, Human Resources, and the Women's Resource Center.

Update on Current Projects

As we move forward into year two, there are many projects that need to happen to move our mission forward. A sampling of projects under way or starting shortly include: HACER

Division–wide mailing to the 10 youngest classes of alumni. The details for this are still being worked through; however, the mailing will give alumni the ability to give to specific areas/organizations or contribute toward five distinct funding needs: leadership training, cultural programming, club sports/ recreation, community involvement, or campus-wide activities.
Fundraising manual. This will assist in answering basic fundraising questions and provide a reference to departments and student clubs/organizations.
A systematic way to acquire yearly membership rosters as part of the club process. We then can enter this information into the Millennium database.
Creating/Teaching a Philanthropy 101 class for the Fall '05 semester. This would be at Hanszen College as part of the college class offerings.
Impact stories. Create a process to receive your stories regarding how programs/events have made a difference in students’ Rice experiences; this will greatly help to further showcase the Division of Student Affairs.
Tracking student success after graduation. We have started the early talks with National Instruments, Accenture, and BP regarding a collaborative research project tracking our student involvement and their success in the world after graduation.
Process for proposals, setting funding priorities. We need to implement a college-wide process and guidelines for submitting proposals for solicitation assistance, as well as create a way of learning the yearly needs/wish list of each college.
GATHER Resource Center. I plan to work with students and staff associated with the GATHER Resource Center and a group of alumni who would like to assist in some way to promote GLBTQA on campus.
Create endowment–level funding. With the unexpected retirement of Zen Camacho, we lost our champion for this effort. But with the expected announcement of a new dean for undergraduates soon, we plan to make great strides on this front. We are currently in the early stages of researching grant possibilities through the Houston Endowment to create endowment–level funding ($250,000/each program) for the Community Involvement Center and the flagship cultural program, ADVANCE.

What Are the Needs of Your Area or Organization? Beer Bike

The two biggest needs that were identified in the Student Affairs retreat were acquiring endowment–level funding for the Community Involvement Center (CIC) and for Advocating DiVersity And the Need for Cultural Exchange (ADVANCE) to keep them going in perpetuity.

What are the needs of your area or organization? Let's sit down and discuss strategies and best practices to help you realize your full potential!

A New Direction for Paul

As of January '05, I will be taking on a different position in the Development Office––a promotion to the Annual Fund Leadership Gifts team. This new position will join two other Development professionals in raising funds to meet the president's goal of increasing yearly Annual Fund gifts from $4.2 million/year to $8.2 million/year by 2012.

I will continue to do the essential functions of the Student Affairs development position for the immediate future. Once the Division of Student Affairs completes searches for the Dean of Undergraduate Education and Dean of Students, next steps will be discussed.

Please don’t hesitate to e–mail me at sutera@rice.edu or call me at x3561 with questions or requests. Or come by and visit me at the Greenbriar Building. I look forward to helping you!

Paul Sutera

Paul J. Sutera
Assistant Director of Development––Student Affairs